Rainbow bubble tip health (long stretching tentacles)

Cbones1979 · Oct 25, 2020

Hello all!

have a rbt and I thought he was going well. Have him in new tank and he’s stretching out instead of short and compact.
Measured par w par meter and he’s sitting around 180-220 range. Should he be getting more? Is this a bad sign?

Spare time · Oct 26, 2020

Some say its for light, some say its an attempt to catch more food. It is hard to say why they are long or bubbly. I would love to know if there are any papers on that.

xxkenny90xx · Oct 26, 2020

Spare time said:
Some say its for light, some say its an attempt to catch more food. It is hard to say why they are long or bubbly. I would love to know if there are any papers on that.

Totally agree that more research needs to be done about why tenticles are stringy or bubbly. That being said the picture the op posted is not normal stringy tenticles for a bta. Are we even sure that's a bubble tip anemone??

James M · Oct 26, 2020

Normal bubble tip behavior.

xxkenny90xx said:
Totally agree that more research needs to be done about why tenticles are stringy or bubbly. That being said the picture the op posted is not normal stringy tenticles for a bta. Are we even sure that's a bubble tip anemone??

that is a bubble tip nem

Johnny_xb · Oct 26, 2020

It’s normal. Weird thing for me though, is that when I had my rbta in my 30 long, the tentacles were long and stretched out like in your photo. When I upgraded to my Reefer 250, it morphed into actual BTA

Cbones1979 · Oct 26, 2020

xxkenny90xx said:
Totally agree that more research needs to be done about why tenticles are stringy or bubbly. That being said the picture the op posted is not normal stringy tenticles for a bta. Are we even sure that's a bubble tip anemone??

It was purchased as a rainbow bubble tip from reef2reef member. It looked alot different and more bubbly in the old tank.

Cbones1979 · Oct 26, 2020

Johnny_xb said:
It’s normal. Weird thing for me though, is that when I had my rbta in my 30 long, the tentacles were long and stretched out like in your photo. When I upgraded to my Reefer 250, it morphed into actual BTA

Maybe it will chill out after tank really matures. Thanks all!

Engrene4 · Oct 26, 2020

you just have a special anemone

MelReefer · Oct 26, 2020

I have a feeling it happens because of flow. When my flow was very high I noticed the tentacles becoming longer and when I changed my flow a couple months ago to a lower setting the tentacles got shorter and more bubbly.

New&no clue · Oct 26, 2020

Yes, it's normal. They are weird. Here is a picture of mine rainbow, I've had it for almost a year.

Rjramos · Oct 26, 2020

This ultra Rbta is coming on a year next month, in this previously well established 29 biocube (since 2014). Under Blue and White LED’s. Turnover circulation maxi jet 1200(295 gph). A small Sicce nano propeller pump lower right back wall corner on constant flow. It split about 6 months ago, so now I have another one behind it. Not showing many bubbles at all. The tentacles wrap food very efficiently and draw into mouth. I would say the current is mild, and probably has something to do with why they expand outward. At night it shrinks down.

ncfalco · Nov 12, 2023

Hate to revive an old thread, but I was also curious about why some BTA Anemones develop long stringy tentacles and others don’t.

I had a single rainbow BTA that was hosted by a pair of Red Sea clownfish and it has since split into two separate anemones. Each nem is now hosted by a separate clownfish. From the little research that I did, I came across the following publication that seems to suggest that A Quadricolor (BTA) anemones develop elongated tentacles since they provide better protection for the clownfish. The longer tentacles provides improved protection for the clownfish by completely surrounding it. This seems like a plausible theory in my opinion.

https://www.researchgate.net/profil...ne-and-Anemonefish-Symbiotic-Relationship.pdf
I’m curious, has anyone observed the elongating of a BTA’s tentacles when it lacked a host anemone?

Luky · Nov 9, 2024

ncfalco said:
Hate to revive an old thread, but I was also curious about why some BTA Anemones develop long stringy tentacles and others don’t.

I had a single rainbow BTA that was hosted by a pair of Red Sea clownfish and it has since split into two separate anemones. Each nem is now hosted by a separate clownfish. From the little research that I did, I came across the following publication that seems to suggest that A Quadricolor (BTA) anemones develop elongated tentacles since they provide better protection for the clownfish. The longer tentacles provides improved protection for the clownfish by completely surrounding it. This seems like a plausible theory in my opinion.

https://www.researchgate.net/profil...ne-and-Anemonefish-Symbiotic-Relationship.pdf
I’m curious, has anyone observed the elongating of a BTA’s tentacles when it lacked a host anemone?

Yeah, I have an RBTA that has split and both nems only show long flowing tentacles (about 9 months in the tank. It had split a third time but I traded 3rd to LFS. The two remaining are huge). I do have mated pair of percs, about 4-5 yo, (lay eggs about every 3 weeks) but they host in a green leather (toad stool? Shaped like a vase with short green wavy polyps) that has been in the tank for 7 or 8 years. They were already in the leather when I got the RBTA but have not moved. It's a 70 gal set up in 2015.